ES2435807T3

Ad-hoc directional communication in contention access period

Abstract

A wireless communications procedure, comprising: monitoring, by an apparatus, in a medium, in a contentious access period, CAP, the availability of the medium for the transmission of data by the apparatus (905); after determining that the medium is available for data transmission by the apparatus, obtaining the medium, transmitting, from the apparatus, a common mode signaling frame, CMS, in the CAP (915); perform a training with another device, to identify one or more preferred antenna patterns, to be used for the transmissions on the wireless channel (925); and transmitting, from the apparatus, at least one data frame to the other apparatus in the CAP, via a wireless channel of the medium, after obtaining the medium (935); wherein the transmission of said at least one data frame in the CAP comprises transmitting said at least one data frame using the preferred pattern of transmitting antennas.

ES2435807T3, drawing sheet 1 — Sheet 1 of 22

Term

3.6 yearsto projected expiry

Projected expiry 15 April 2030, counted from filing; an application has no term until it is granted.

13 claims: 5 independent, 8 dependent

1
REIVINDICACIONES 1. Un procedimiento de comunicaciones inalámbricas, que comprende:monitorizar, por un aparato, en un medio, en un periodo de acceso contencioso, CAP, la disponibilidad del medio para la transmisión de datos por el aparato (905);después de determinar que el medio está disponible para la transmisión de datos por el aparato, obtener el medio, transmitiendo, desde el aparato, una trama de señalización de modalidad común, CMS, en el CAP (915);realizar un entrenamiento con otro aparato, para identificar uno o más patrones preferidos de antenas, a usar para las transmisiones por el canal inalámbrico (925);y transmitir, desde el aparato, al menos una trama de datos al otro aparato en el CAP, por un canal inalámbrico del medio, después de obtener el medio (935);en el cual la transmisión de dicha al menos una trama de datos en el CAP comprende transmitir dicha al menos una trama de datos usando el patrón preferido de antenas transmisoras.
2
El procedimiento de la reivindicación 1, en el cual el entrenamiento comprende:transmitir una o más secuencias de entrenamiento desde el aparato al otro aparato, usando una pluralidad de patrones de antenas transmisoras;y recibir información de retroalimentación desde el otro aparato, con respecto a un patrón preferido de antenas transmisoras, seleccionado entre la pluralidad de patrones de antenas transmisoras;y, preferiblemente, en el cual la transmisión de una o más secuencias de entrenamiento al otro aparato comprende transmitir una o más secuencias de entrenamiento usando la pluralidad de patrones de antenas transmisoras, en el cual el patrón de antenas transmisoras seleccionado para transmitir cada secuencia de entrenamiento es seleccionada a la manera de tandas circulares;y / o en el cual el entrenamiento comprende: recibir, en el aparato, una o más secuencias de entrenamiento transmitidas desde el otro aparato;determinar un patrón preferido de antenas receptoras y al menos un patrón preferido de antenas transmisoras del otro aparato, en base a dichas una o más secuencias de entrenamiento recibidas;y enviar información de retroalimentación al otro aparato, acerca del patrón preferido de antenas transmisoras;y, preferiblemente, que comprende adicionalmente: almacenar el patrón preferido de antenas receptoras en el aparato;y transmitir desde el aparato, usando el patrón preferido de antenas receptoras almacenado, otra trama de CMS y al menos un paquete de datos en el CAP por el canal inalámbrico del medio la próxima vez que el medio esté disponible para la transmisión de datos;y / o que comprende adicionalmente;recibir desde el otro aparato al menos una trama de datos usando el patrón preferido de antenas receptoras.
3
El procedimiento de la reivindicación 1, en el cual el patrón preferido de antenas comprende una dirección de sector o bien una dirección de haz; y / o en el cual la transmisión de la trama de CMS comprende; transmitir una trama de CMS omni-direccional, si el aparato es capaz de transmisión omni-direccional; y en caso contrario, transmitir una trama de CMS direccional; y que, preferiblemente, comprende adicionalmente:transmitir una o más secuencias de entrenamiento desde el aparato a continuación de la trama de CMS direccional;y / o en el cual la transmisión de la trama de CMS direccional comprende: transmitir la trama de CMS direccional usando un patrón de antenas transmisoras que es distinto a un patrón de antenas transmisoras usado para transmitir una trama de CMS direccional cuando el aparato obtuvo previamente acceso al medio, si se desconoce un patrón preferido de antenas transmisoras del aparato. 5 4. El procedimiento de la reivindicación 1, en el cual la trama de CMS comprende al menos uno entre: un preámbulo largo, una cabecera de capa física (PHY), una cabecera de control de acceso al medio, MAC, o un campo de suma de control de cabecera, HCS;y, preferiblemente, en el cual un bit de rastreo de haces de la cabecera de capa PHY indica si al menos una secuencia de entrenamiento sigue o no a la trama de CMS;y / o 10 en el cual la cabecera de MAC comprende información utilizable por el otro aparato para determinar si recibe la trama de datos transmitida y al menos una secuencia de entrenamiento optativa, o bien conmuta a una modalidad de escucha;y / o en el cual un campo de control de fragmentación de la cabecera de MAC comprende información que indica durante cuánto tiempo estará en uso el medio. 15 5. El procedimiento de la reivindicación 1, que comprende adicionalmente: barrer un conjunto de patrones de antenas receptoras, hasta que sea detectado un preámbulo de una trama de CMS transmitida por el otro aparato;determinar, como un patrón preferido de antenas receptoras entre el conjunto de patrones de antenas receptoras, un patrón de antenas receptoras usado para detectar la trama de CMS;y 20 usar el patrón preferido de antenas receptoras para detectar una cabecera de capa física, PHY, de la trama de CMS recibida;y, preferiblemente, en el cual el preámbulo de la trama de CMS transmitida por el otro aparato es considerada como detectada si un nivel de energía del preámbulo es igual o mayor que un valor definido;y / o que comprende adicionalmente: detectar un preámbulo largo de una trama de CMS transmitida desde el otro aparato;y 25 abstenerse de transmitir, si el preámbulo largo es detectado durante un periodo de escuchar-antes-de-hablar del aparato;y, preferiblemente, que comprende adicionalmente: decidir, en base a información en una cabecera de control de acceso al medio, MAC, del preámbulo largo, bien recibir un paquete de datos y al menos una secuencia de entrenamiento optativa, o bien conmutar a una modalidad de escucha;y / o 30 que comprende adicionalmente: descodificar, en el aparato, al menos una secuencia de entrenamiento y una cabecera de capa física, PHY, de un paquete de datos a continuación del preámbulo largo;y conmutar a una modalidad durmiente al menos para la duración restante del paquete de datos.
6
El procedimiento de la reivindicación 1, en el cual un elemento de información de duración proveniente de un cuerpo de 35 la trama de CMS transmitida comprende información que indica al otro aparato durante cuánto tiempo estará en uso el medio; y / o en el cual la transmisión de dicha al menos una trama de datos comprende transmitir dicha al menos una trama de datos durante un periodo adjudicado de oportunidad de transmisión; y / o en el cual el aparato está asociado a un Sistema Simétrico de Antena, SAS, y el procedimiento comprende 40 adicionalmente:determinar un patrón preferido de antenas receptoras del aparato, en base a secuencias de entrenamiento recibidas usando múltiples patrones de antenas receptoras;y determinar un patrón preferido de antenas transmisoras del aparato, que es el mismo que el patrón preferido de antenas receptoras;y que, preferiblemente, comprende adicionalmente: 45 transmitir desde el aparato asociado al SAS al menos una trama de datos en el CAP, usando el patrón preferido de antenas transmisoras.
7
El procedimiento de la reivindicación 1, que comprende adicionalmente:detectar, en el aparato, una duración de transmisión de al menos una trama de datos, transmitida desde el otro aparato, descodificando una indicación de duración de una trama de CMS recibida, en el cual la indicación de duración está incluida en una cabecera de control de acceso al medio, MAC, de la trama de CMS recibida, o en un elemento de información de duración de un cuerpo de trama de la trama de CMS recibida;o que comprende adicionalmente: detectar, en el aparato, una duración de transmisión de al menos una trama de datos, transmitida desde el otro aparato, descodificando un valor de un campo de longitud de cabecera de capa física, PHY, de una trama de datos recibida;o en el cual: la transmisión de la trama de CMS comprende transmitir una trama de CMS de vanguardia en un periodo de oportunidad de transmisión;y, preferiblemente, que comprende adicionalmente: transmitir al menos una secuencia de entrenamiento desde el aparato durante el periodo de oportunidad de transmisión;o en el cual: la transmisión de la trama de CMS comprende transmitir una trama de CMS de vanguardia en un periodo de oportunidad de transmisión;y el procedimiento comprende adicionalmente recibir al menos una secuencia de entrenamiento durante el periodo de oportunidad de transmisión;o en el cual: la transmisión de la trama de CMS comprende transmitir en un periodo de oportunidad de transmisión;y en el cual la transmisión de datos por el medio en el CAP comprende la transmisión de múltiples tramas de datos dentro del periodo de oportunidad de transmisión;y, preferiblemente, que comprende adicionalmente: transmitir una secuencia de entrenamiento desde el aparato durante el periodo de oportunidad de transmisión;o en el cual: la transmisión de la trama de CMS comprende transmitir en un periodo de oportunidad de transmisión;y en el cual la transmisión de datos por el medio en el CAP comprende la transmisión en ambas direcciones entre el aparato y el otro aparato, dentro del periodo de oportunidad de transmisión;y, preferiblemente, que comprende adicionalmente: transmitir una secuencia de entrenamiento desde el aparato durante el periodo de oportunidad de transmisión.
8
El procedimiento de la reivindicación 1, en el cual la trama de CMS transmitida por el CAP usando un esquema de portadora única, SC, comprende un preámbulo largo de CMS y un campo de duración que indica la duración de la trama de CMS;y, preferiblemente, en el cual dicha al menos una trama de datos a continuación del preámbulo largo de CMS, y el campo de duración, es transmitida por el canal inalámbrico del medio usando una dirección preferida de antena transmisora del aparato;o en el cual la trama de CMS transmitida en el CAP, según un esquema de Interfaz de Alta Velocidad de Multiplexado Ortogonal por División de Frecuencia, OFDM HSI, comprende una secuencia de preámbulo largo del Esquema 0 de Codificación de Modulación de HSI, HSI MCS0, y un campo de duración, que indica la duración de la trama de CMS;o en el cual la trama de CMS transmitida en el CAP, según un esquema de Audio / Video de Multiplexado por División Ortogonal de Frecuencia, OFDM AV, comprende una secuencia de preámbulo largo de la Capa Física de Baja Velocidad de Audio / Vídeo, AV LRP, y un campo de duración, que indica la duración de la trama de CMS.
9
Un aparato (102) de comunicaciones inalámbricas, que comprende:medios para monitorizar, en un medio en un periodo de acceso contencioso, CAP, la disponibilidad del medio para la transmisión de datos por parte del aparato;medios para obtener el medio, transmitiendo, desde el aparato, una trama de señalización de modalidad común, CMS, después de determinar que el medio esté disponible para la transmisión de datos por parte del aparato;medios para realizar el entrenamiento con otro aparato, para identificar uno o más patrones preferidos de antenas, a usar para las transmisiones por el canal inalámbrico;y medios para transmitir al menos una trama de datos al otro aparato en el CAP por un canal inalámbrico del medio, después de obtener el medio, en donde el medio para transmitir está adaptado para transmitir dicha al menos una trama de datos, usando el patrón preferido de antenas transmisoras.
10
Un procedimiento de comunicaciones inalámbricas, que comprende:recibir, por un aparato, una trama de señalización de modalidad común, CMS, transmitida por otro aparato, que indica acceso a un medio para la comunicación de datos por el otro aparato, en un periodo de acceso contencioso, CAP (910);recibir, desde el otro aparato, una vez que el acceso al medio para la comunicación de datos esté indicado en el aparato, al menos una trama de datos por un canal inalámbrico del medio en el CAP (940);y transmitir, al otro aparato, un acuse de recibo, en cuanto a que dicha al menos una trama de datos está recibida con éxito, por el canal inalámbrico del medio, en el CAP;en el cual la recepción de dicha al menos una trama de datos comprende recibir dicha al menos una trama de datos usando un patrón preferido de antenas receptoras, y en el cual el patrón preferido de antenas receptoras está determinado por la realización del entrenamiento con el otro aparato (930).
11
El procedimiento de la reivindicación 10, en el cual la trama de CMS transmitida por el otro aparato es una trama de CMS omni-direccional; y / o en el cual la trama de CMS recibida es una trama de CMS de vanguardia, y el procedimiento comprende adicionalmente:barrer un conjunto de patrones de antenas receptoras para múltiples periodos de tiempo definidos, hasta que sea detectado un preámbulo largo de la trama de CMS de vanguardia;determinar, como un patrón preferido de antenas receptoras, un patrón de antenas receptoras entre el conjunto de patrones de antenas receptoras usado para detectar el preámbulo largo;y usar el patrón preferido de antenas receptoras para detectar una cabecera de capa física, PHY, de la trama de CMS de vanguardia.
12
El procedimiento de la reivindicación 10, que comprende adicionalmente:detectar, en el aparato, un preámbulo largo de otra trama de CMS;y abstenerse de transmitir, si el preámbulo largo es detectado durante un periodo de escuchar-antes-de-hablar del aparato;y, preferiblemente, que comprende adicionalmente: recibir, en el aparato, una cabecera de control de acceso al medio, MAC, de la otra trama de CMS;y decidir, en base a la información en la cabecera de MAC, entre recibir un paquete de datos, y al menos una secuencia de entrenamiento optativa, y conmutar a una modalidad de escucha;y / o que comprende adicionalmente: descodificar, en el aparato, al menos una secuencia de entrenamiento y una cabecera de capa física, PHY, de un paquete de datos a continuación del preámbulo largo;y conmutar a una modalidad durmiente al menos para una duración restante del paquete de datos;o que comprende adicionalmente: habilitar una comunicación direccional ad-hoc por el medio en el CAP;y, preferiblemente, en el cual la comunicación direccional ad-hoc es habilitada sin ninguna comunicación con un coordinador de red;y, preferiblemente, que comprende adicionalmente: almacenar el patrón preferido de antenas receptoras en el aparato;y recibir, en el aparato, usando el patrón preferido de antenas receptoras almacenado, otra trama de CMS y al menos un paquete de datos, transmitidos desde el otro aparato por el canal inalámbrico del medio en el CAP.
13
El procedimiento de la reivindicación 10, en el cual la trama de CMS recibida comprende un preámbulo largo y un campo de duración, que indica la duración de la trama de CMS, y, preferiblemente, en el cual el preámbulo largo comprende al menos uno entre:una secuencia de CMS, una secuencia del Esquema 0 de Codificación de Modulación de Interfaz de Alta Velocidad, HSI MCS0, o una secuencia de la Capa Física de Baja Velocidad de Audio-Vídeo, AV LRP;o en el cual la recepción de la trama de CMS comprende: recibir al menos un inicio del preámbulo largo, y en el cual el medio está en uso si un nivel de energía del inicio recibido del preámbulo largo es igual o mayor que un valor definido;y, preferiblemente, que comprende adicionalmente: informar de que el medio está en uso, utilizando la función de Evaluación de Canal Libre, CCA, del aparato;o que comprende adicionalmente: abstenerse de transmitir si el inicio del preámbulo largo es recibido durante un periodo de escuchar-antes-de-hablar del aparato;y, preferiblemente, que comprende adicionalmente: permanecer en una modalidad de recepción para obtener información acerca de la duración restante de la trama de CMS, en base a un valor del campo de duración;y conmutar a una modalidad durmiente para la duración restante de la trama de CMS.
14
Un aparato (102) para comunicaciones inalámbricas, que comprende:medios para recibir una trama de señalización de modalidad común, CMS, transmitida por otro aparato, que indica acceso a un medio para la comunicación de datos por parte del otro aparato, en un periodo de acceso contencioso, CAP;medios para recibir, desde el otro aparato, una vez que el acceso al medio para la comunicación de datos esté indicado en el aparato, al menos una trama de datos por un canal inalámbrico del medio en el CAP;y medios para transmitir, al otro aparato, un acuse de recibo en cuanto a que dicha al menos una trama de datos está recibida con éxito por el canal inalámbrico del medio en el CAP;y en el cual el medio para recibir dicha al menos una trama de datos comprende medios para recibir dicha al menos una trama de datos, usando un patrón preferido de antenas receptoras, y en el cual el patrón preferido de antenas receptoras está determinado por la realización del entrenamiento con el otro aparato.
15
Un producto de programa de ordenador para comunicaciones inalámbricas, que comprende un medio legible por ordenador que comprende instrucciones ejecutables para llevar a cabo las etapas de procedimiento de las reivindicaciones 1 a 8, o 10 a 13.

Independent claims13

152 paragraphs, as filed

Ad-hoc directional communication in a contentious access period

Background

Countryside

Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate, in general, to wireless communication and, more specifically, to the association between communication devices and ad-hoc directional communication in a contentious access period.

Background

In the emerging standards of wireless communication, such as the 802.15.3c standard of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the planning of a network coordinator (e.g., control by a peak-network controller

or an access point) is required to access a medium, for any communication from device to device. However, the effectiveness of this access can be very low, in particular, for data applications with very random traffic and with many bursts.

A channel time allotment (CTA), which is an approach based on time division multiplexing (TDM), can provide means to support streaming applications with high data rates. On the other hand, the use of a large amount of data with many bursts does not have good support in the IEEE 802.15.3c standard.

The budget for links, to transmit at high data rates over the 60 GHz frequency band, with support from standards such as IEEE 802.15.3c, IEEE 802.1 Iad and that of the Technical Committee of the Association of European Manufacturers Computers (ECMA - TC48), requires considerable antenna gain, as well as flexibility in the orientation of endpoint devices. This directional communication presents a new challenge for devices that communicate with multiple pairs in multiple directions. Such devices need to be informed in advance as to which direction to set their antennas. However, the nature of contention-based traffic is that it is not always possible to know in advance what directions to use, since any of the potential peers can gain access to a medium. Several attempts and restrictions were applied in a contentious access period (CAP), specified by the IEEE 802.15.3c standard, but none of them provided an effective solution to this problem.

Therefore, there is a need in the art for a procedure to provide effective ad-hoc peer-to-peer communication in the CAP, while ensuring that the antenna addresses of the communication pairs point towards each other. Prior to this, it is desirable that the peers (that is, the wireless nodes of the network) be associated with the network coordinator.

Attention is paid to document US 2009/041156 A1, which describes a multimodal transmission system that supports OFDM and single carrier signals, configured to perform interpolation and decimation, so that the ratio between the interpolation factor and the Tithing factor is equal to the ratio between the OFDM sampling rate and the single carrier chip speed. A constant envelope modulator comprises a fixed rotor pi / 4, a continuous rotor pi / 2 and Bessel analog filters, in phase and quadrature phase. Frame formats and signaling protocols are provided for signal acquisition, synchronization and tracking between wireless devices that use different antenna configurations. The spread gains are selected to compensate for the different antenna gains, so that the total gain (the antenna gain plus the spread gain) is essentially the same for transmissions that employ different beam patterns.

Attention is also drawn to a document by Shuzo Kato et al., Entitled: "Common Modal Signaling (CMS) for the Enhancement of Coexistence Between Systems", No. IEEE 802.11-09-370-02-00ad, dated March 11 of 2009 (2009-0311), XP002595100 Extracted from the Internet: URL: ieee.org [downloaded on 2010-07-30]. The document provides an overview of the Common Modal Signaling in a TG3c system.

Summary

In accordance with the present invention, methods, apparatus and a computer program product are provided, as stipulated respectively in the independent claims. Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

Brief description of the drawings

In order that the manner in which the foregoing characteristics of the present disclosure are set forth may be understood in

detail, a more specific description, briefly summarized in the foregoing, may be available for reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be noted, however, that the accompanying drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and, therefore, should not be considered as limiting its scope, since the description may admit other equally effective aspects.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system according to certain aspects of this

revelation. FIG. 2 illustrates various components that can be used in a wireless device according to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary transmitter that can be used within a wireless communication system of

according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary receiver that can be used within a wireless communication system accordingly to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an association procedure according to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary operations to associate a device with a peak-network controller according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 6A illustrates exemplary components capable of performing the operations illustrated in FIG. 6. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the flow of association according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 8 illustrates another example of the flow of association according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 9 illustrates exemplary operations for ad-hoc directional transmission in a contentious access period

(CAP) according to certain aspects of this disclosure. FIG. 9A illustrates exemplary components capable of performing the operations illustrated in FIG. 9. FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary scenario for ad-hoc directional transmission in the CAP, without any training of

antenna patterns, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates exemplary operations for training antenna patterns as part of the transmission ad hoc directional illustrated in FIG. 9, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 11A illustrates exemplary components capable of performing the operations illustrated in FIG. eleven. FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary scenario for ad-hoc directional transmission in CAP with pattern training

of antennas, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of an empty common mode signaling frame (CMS), according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 14 illustrates a structure of a physical layer (PHY) header of the CMS frame, according to certain

aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 illustrates a structure of a media access control (MAC) header of the CMS frame, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 16 illustrates a structure of a fragmentation control field of the MAC header, according to certain

aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 illustrates a structure of an Information Element (IE) field of Command Frame Duration of CMS, according to certain aspects of this disclosure. FIG. 18 illustrates an example of durations of a busy medium in the case of ad-hoc directional transmission without

antenna pattern training, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of durations of a busy medium in the case of ad-hoc directional transmission with antenna pattern training, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 20 illustrates an example of receiving a quasi-omni preamble, according to certain aspects of the present

revelation.

FIG. 21 illustrates a frame structure with a long preamble for accessing the medium in the CAP, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Detailed description

Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings. This disclosure, however, can be realized in many different ways, and should not be construed as limited to any specific structure or function presented to the full extent of this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure is thorough and complete, and that it completely conveys the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings herein, one skilled in the art should appreciate that the scope of the disclosure is intended to encompass every aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of, or combined with, any other aspect of revelation. For example, an apparatus may be implemented, or a procedure may be implemented, using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to encompass such an apparatus or procedure that is implemented using another structure, functionality, or structure and functionality, in addition, or instead, to the various aspects of the disclosure set forth in the present memory It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein can be realized by one or more elements of a claim.

The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "that serves as an example, case or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" should not necessarily be interpreted as preferred or advantageous over other aspects.

In the following detailed description, various aspects of the disclosure can be described in the context of a wireless network or "peak-network", according to the IEEE 802.15 family of standards (whether adopted or proposed). While these revealed aspects may be well adapted for use with such networks, in which an access point (AP) can serve as a peak-network coordinator (PNC), those skilled in the art will immediately appreciate that these disclosed aspects They are similarly applicable for use in various other communication environments that use any type of access points (AP) and access terminals (AT), including, but not limited to, networks according to the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, and can, in fact, allow better networks to coexist according to different standards. Consequently, any reference to a network conforming to an IEEE 802.15 standard is intended only to illustrate the disclosed aspects, it being understood that such disclosed aspects have a wide range of applications.

The teachings herein may be incorporated into (e.g., implemented within, or performed by) a wide variety of wired or wireless devices (e.g., nodes). In some aspects, a wireless node implemented according to the teachings herein may comprise an access point or an access terminal.

An access point ("AP") may comprise, be implemented as, or be known as, a NodeB, a Radio Network Controller ("RNC"), an eNodeB, a Base Station Controller ("BSC"), a Base Transceiver Station ("BTS"), a Base Station ("BS"), a Transceiver Function ("TF"), a Radio Router, a Radio Transceiver, a Basic Services Set ("BSS"), a Extended Service Set (“ESS”), a Radio Base Station (“RBS”), or some other terminology.

An access terminal ("AT") may comprise, be implemented as, or be known as, an access terminal, a subscriber station, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a terminal of user, a user agent, a user device, a user equipment, or with some other terminology. In some implementations, an access terminal may comprise a cell phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol ("SIP") telephone, a wireless local loop station ("WLL"), a personal digital assistant (" PDA ”), a handheld device with wireless connection capability, or some other suitable processing device connected to a wireless modem. Consequently, one or more aspects disclosed herein can be incorporated into a telephone (e.g., a cell phone or a smartphone), a computer (e.g., a laptop), a portable communication device , a portable computing device (e.g., a personal data assistant), an entertainment device (e.g. e.g., a music or video device, or a satellite radio), a device of the global location system, or any other suitable device that is configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

In some aspects, the node is a wireless node. Such wireless nodes can provide, for example, connectivity to, or to, a network (eg, a personal area network or peak-network, a wide area network such as the Internet, or a cellular network), via a link Wired or wireless communication.

Although specific aspects are described herein, many variations and permutations of these aspects fall within the scope of the disclosure. Although some benefits and advantages of the preferred aspects are

mentioned, the scope of the disclosure is not intended to be limited to certain benefits, uses or objectives. Rather, the aspects of the disclosure are intended to be widely applicable to different wireless technologies, system configurations, networks and transmission protocols, some of which are illustrated by way of example in the figures, and in the following description of the preferred aspects The detailed description and drawings are merely illustrative of the disclosure, rather than limiting, the scope of the disclosure being defined by the appended claims.

An exemplary wireless communication system

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system 100 (ie, a Pico-network 1) in which aspects of the present disclosure can be employed. As illustrated, the Pico-network 1 can include a certain number of wireless devices 102 or "terminals" 1A to 1E, which can communicate with each other using wireless links 104 of relatively short range. In the illustrated example, terminal 1E acts as a PNC for Peak-network 1. Although illustrated with five devices, it should be appreciated that any number of devices (ie, two or more) can be part of a personal area wireless network.

Each of the terminals 102 in the Pico-network 1 may include, among other things, a wireless transceiver to support wireless communication, and controller functionality to manage communication with the network. The controller functionality may be implemented within one or more digital processing devices. The wireless transceiver can be coupled with one or more antennas to facilitate the transmission of signals to, and the reception of signals from, a wireless channel. Any type of antennas can be used, including, for example, dipoles, patches, helical antennas, antenna formations and / or others.

Devices in the Pico-network 1 can include any of a wide variety of different types of devices, including, for example, laptops, desktops, handhelds or tablets, with wireless networking functionality, computer peripherals with Wireless networking capability, personal digital assistants (PDAs) with wireless networking capabilities, cell phones and other handheld wireless communicators, pagers, wireless network interface modules (e.g. eg, wireless network interface cards, etc.), incorporated into larger systems, multimedia devices with wireless networking capabilities, audiovisual devices with wireless networking capabilities, home appliances with wireless networking capabilities, jewelry or other clothing items capable of forming wireless networks, universal serial bus wireless devices (USB), wireless digital imaging devices

(e.g., digital cameras, recording cameras, etc.), wireless printers, wireless home entertainment systems (e.g., DVD / CD players, televisions, MP3 players, audio devices, etc.) and / or others. In a configuration, for example, a personal area wireless network may include a user's laptop that is communicating wirelessly with the user's personal digital assistant (PDA) and with the user's printer in a short range network. In another possible configuration, a wireless personal area network may be formed between various audiovisual devices, for example, in a user's room. In yet another configuration, a user's laptop can communicate with terminals associated with other users in a user's near environment. Many other scenarios are also possible.

Standards have been developed, and are currently under development, to provide a framework to support the development of interoperable products that are capable of functioning as part of a personal area wireless network (e.g., the Bluetooth standard (System Specification Bluetooth, Version 1.2, Bluetooth SIG, Inc., November 2003), IEEE 802.15 standards, etc.). The IEEE 802.15.3c standard, for example, is a high-speed personal area wireless network standard. According to the IEEE 802.15.3c standard, one of the terminals within a peak-network is selected as a Peak-Network Coordinator (PNC), to coordinate the operation of the network. For example, with reference to FIG. 1, the PNC 1E device represents a PNC for Pico-network 1 in an implementation of the IEEE 802.15.3c standard.

As illustrated, the PNC 1E can transmit a beacon signal 110 (or simply a "beacon") to other devices of the Pico-network 1, which can help the other terminals within the Pico-network 1 to synchronize their timing with the PNC 1E. Thus, the beacon, usually sent at the beginning of each superframe, contains information that can be used to temporarily synchronize the terminals in the peak-network. Each terminal in the peak network, including the PNC, can reset its super-frame clock to zero at the beginning of the beacon preamble. If a terminal does not hear a beacon, it can reset its super-frame clock to zero at the time it expected to hear the beginning of the preamble of the beacon (e.g., based on a previous super-frame timing).

FIG. 2 illustrates various components that can be used in a wireless device 202 that can be used within the wireless communication system 100. Wireless device 202 is an example of a device that can be configured to implement the various procedures described herein. The wireless device 202 may be the PNC 1E or a terminal 102 in the Pico-network 1.

The wireless device 202 may include a processor 204 that controls the operation of the wireless device

202. The processor 204 may also be called a central processing unit (CPU). Memory 206, which may include both read-only memory (ROM) and random access memory (ROM), provides instructions and data to processor 204. A portion of memory 206 may also include non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) . The processor 204 usually performs logical and arithmetic operations based on program instructions stored within the memory 206. The instructions in the memory 206 may be executable to implement the procedures described herein.

The wireless device 202 may also include a cover 208 which may include a transmitter 210 and a receiver 212 to allow the transmission and reception of data between the wireless device 202 and a remote location. The transmitter 210 and the receiver 212 may be combined in a transceiver 214. An antenna 216 may be attached to the cover 208 and electrically coupled with the transceiver 214. Wireless device 202 may also include multiple transmitters (not shown), multiple receivers, multiple transceivers and / or multiple antennas.

The wireless device 202 may also include a signal detector 218 that can be used in an effort to detect and quantify the level of the signals received by the transceiver 214. The signal detector 218 can detect signals such as total energy, energy by subcarrier by symbol, the spectral density of energy and other signals. The wireless device 202 may also include a digital signal processor (DSP) 220 for use in signal processing.

The various components of the wireless device 202 may be coupled to each other by a bus system 222, which may include a power bus, a control signal bus and a status signal bus, in addition to a data bus.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a transmitter 302 that can be used within a wireless communication system 100 using the single carrier technique, or some other transmission technique. Parts of the transmitter 302 may be implemented in the transmitter 210 of a wireless device 202. The transmitter 302 may be implemented in the PNC 1E to transmit data 304 to a terminal 102. The transmitter 302 can also be implemented in a terminal 102 to transmit data 304 to the PNC 1E.

The data 304 to be transmitted is shown to be provided as input to a correlator 306. The correlator 306 can correlate the data stream 304 with constellation points. The correlation can be made using some modulation constellation, such as binary phase shift modulation (BPSK), quadrature phase shift modulation (QPSK), phase 8 displacement modulation (8PSK), modulation by Quadrature amplitude (QAM), etc. Thus, the correlator 306 can issue a stream 308 of symbols, which can represent an input to a preamble insert unit 310.

The preamble insert unit 310 can be configured to insert a preamble sequence at the beginning of the input symbol stream 308, and generates a corresponding data stream 312. The preamble can be known at the receiver and can be used for time and frequency synchronization, channel estimation, equalization and channel decoding. The output 312 of the preamble insert unit 310 may be increased in frequency to a desired band of transmitting frequency, by a radio frequency (RF) user interface 314. An antenna 316 can then transmit a resulting signal 318 over a wireless channel.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a receiver 402 that can be used within a wireless device 202 that uses a single carrier technique, or some other transmission technique. Parts of the receiver 402 may be implemented in the receiver 212 of a wireless device 202. The receiver 402 may be implemented in a terminal 102 to receive 404 data from the PNC 1E. Receiver 402 can also be implemented in PNC 1E to receive 404 data from a terminal 102.

When a signal 404 is received by an antenna 406, it can be reduced in frequency to a baseband signal 410, by an RF user interface 408. A frame format of the received signal for single carrier data communications usually comprises a preamble followed by a data part. A part of the preamble 412 can be used for channel estimation by unit 416. The received data 414 can be processed by an equalization unit 420 that uses previously calculated channel estimates 418.

A decoder 424 can enter a stream 422 of equalized data and can perform the inverse of the symbol mapping operation that was performed by the correlator 306 of FIG. 3, thereby issuing a flow 426 of data. Ideally, this data stream 426 corresponds to the data 304 that was provided as input to the transmitter 302, as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Device association with network controller

Certain aspects of the present disclosure support an effective association of an apparatus in a peak-network (e.g., a

Pico-network device 100) with another device, p. eg, the peak-network controller (PNC) 1E of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 illustrates a sample of association procedure, and FIG. 6 illustrates exemplary operations 600 for associating a second device (e.g., a device with a peak network) with a first device (e.g., a PNC with the same network peak), according to certain aspects of The present revelation.

In 602, the first apparatus may transmit quasi-omni beacons 502 in a plurality of transmission directions 504 of the first apparatus. In 604, the second device can receive the 502 quasi-omni beacons, and can determine a preferred transmission direction of the first device. In 606, the second device may send Association Request Commands (CMD) frames in any of the association sub-contest access periods (S-CAP) 506, using one of the transmission omni-addresses of the second device . Each Association Request can be sent with an Immediate Acknowledgment (IACK) modality. The Association Request may also include information about a quasi-omni preferred receiving address of the second device.

In 608, the first device can receive the previously transmitted Association Request CMD frames, and can respond, in 612, with an IACK message for a first Association Request detected in the association S-CAP 506, using the quasi address - Preferred reception of the second device. If the second device does not receive the IACK, then the second device can resend, in 610, the CMD Association Request frames, using another transmission omni-address of the second device. The second apparatus can also apply the recoil after each Association Request in the S-CAP 506 of association.

Once a management entity (DME) provides Association Response information to the first device, the first device may include an Association Response Indication of the second device, in a quasi-omni beacon, transmitted to the second device, and may allocate, in 614, an association channel time (CTA) allotment for the second device to complete the association with the first device. In 616, the first device may send a Association Response message in the awarded association CTA. The Association Response may include information about a quasi-omni preferred receiving address of the first device.

In 618, the second device can receive the Association Response, and can send another CMD Association Request frame in a preferred S-CAP Association address. At 620, the first device can receive the other CMD Association Request frame, and can allocate a channel time allocation period (CTAP) 512 for beam training and for data transmission. A normal contentious access period (CAP) 510 can be used for peer-to-peer directional communication (i.e., between peak-network devices), and CTAP 512 can be used for directional communication between the first device (e.g. eg, the PNC) and the second apparatus (eg, the device), as illustrated in FIG. 5. It should also be noted that the second device may send an announcement CMD to the first device during an association S-CAP, and the first device may always allocate the CTA to communicate with the second device.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of association flow, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. A DME 708 can send a message 710 MLME-ASSOCIATE. Request (MLME: Entity of Management of Sub-layer of Control of Access to the Medium) to a device (DEV) 706 to initiate the association of the DEV to a PNC 704. The DEV 706 may then transmit a 712 CMD Association Request frame to PNC 704. The 712 CMD Association Request frame, sent in a normal S-CAP, may comprise an identification of the DEV (ie, DEVID), as illustrated in FIG. 7. When the Association Request CMD frame 712 is detected, the PNC 704 can respond to the DEV with an IACK message 714. After that, PNC 704 can send DEV 706 a CMD frame 716 of Association Response, to award an association CTA for the DEV to complete the association with the PNC. The association response CMD frame 716 may comprise the DEV Identifier and the DEV address, as illustrated in FIG. 7.

Before a period of temporary exhaustion 718 has elapsed, DEV 706 may send to PNC 704 a second frame 724 of CMD of Association Request with the address of DEV. Meanwhile, PNC 704 can indicate to a DME 702 the association with DEV 706, by sending a message 720 MLME-ASSOCIATE. Indicate, and DEV 706 can confirm the association with PNC 704 by sending a message 722 MLME-ASSOCIATE. Confirm to DME 708. The 722 MLME-ASSOCIATE.confirm message may comprise the address of the DEV and the Identifier of the DEV, as illustrated in FIG. 7.

The PNC 704 may respond to the Association Request CMD frame 724 detected with an IACK message 726, and may allocate a channel time allocation period (CTAP) for beam training and data transmission. The PNC can transmit a beacon 728 to the DEV during the awarded CTAP, and the DEV can send a message 730 MLME-DEV-INFO.ind to DME 708, indicating a set of information from the DEV. An optional 732 SYNC frame can also be transmitted from the DEV to the PNC. The sequence of messages 728 to 732 can be repeated for each superframe, as illustrated in FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 illustrates another example of association flow, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. A DME

808 You can send a message 810 MLME-ASSOCIATE. Request a DEV 806 to start the association of the DEV with a PNC

804 As illustrated in FIG. 8, frames 812 and 814 of CMD Association Request may be sent from DEV 806 to PNC 804, but the PNC may not be able to detect these frames. By detecting in the PNC 804 an Association Request CMD frame 816 comprising the Identifier of the DEV, the PNC can respond to the DEV with an IACK message 818. All transmissions 812 to 818 can be performed during an association S-CAP, as illustrated in FIG. 8.

The PNC may award an association CTA for DEV 806 to complete the association of the DEV, transmitting a beacon 820. The PNC may include the Identifier of the DEV and the address of the DEV in a frame 822 of the Association Response CMD, sent to the DEV during the awarded association CTA. Upon detection of this frame, the DEV 806 can respond to the PNC with an IACK message 824, also transmitted during the awarded association CTA.

Following the IACK message 824, the PNC 804 can indicate to an DME 802 the association with the DEV, by sending an 826 MLME-ASSOCIATE message, and the DEV 806 can confirm the association with the PNC by sending an 828 MLME- message ASSOCIATE.confirm DME 808. Message 828 MLME-ASSOCIATE.confirm can comprise the address of the DEV and the Identifier of the DEV, as illustrated in FIG. 8. Then, DEV 806 can send PNC 804 a second frame 830 of CMD of Association Request, with the address of the DEV. The PNC 804 can respond to the CMD frame 830 of Association Request detected with an IACK message 832, and then the PNC can allocate the CTAP for beam training and for data transmission. Transmissions 830 and 832 may be performed during a preferred address association S-CAP.

The PNC may transmit a beacon 834 to the DEV during the awarded CTAP, and the DEV may send a message 836 MLME-DEV-INFO.ind to DME 808, indicating a set of information from the DEV. An optional 838 SYNC frame can also be transmitted from the DEV to the PNC. The sequence of messages 834 to 838 can be repeated for each superframe, as illustrated in FIG. 8.

Media allocation for devices on the network

An example of a media access control (MAC) is the use of a synchronized system where all devices (DEV) within a single network (such as a peak-network or a network of basic sets of services (BSS)) They can be synchronized with a common clock. A synchronization frame may be sent in each superframe, and may contain information necessary for the temporary synchronization of the DEVs in the network. Each DEV in the network can use a time stamp in the synchronization frame to reset its super-frame clock to zero at the beginning of the super-frame.

If a network controller (that is, a peak-network controller (PNC) or an access point (AP)) is responsible for allocating a medium for devices on the network, then the network controller can request the medium using various procedures for transmitting command frames in defined time slots within the superframe (ie, the beacon period). Such an award may be a fixed reservation, such as a channel time allocation (CTA) for the IEEE 802.15.3c standard, or a distributed reservation protocol (DRP) for the standard of the Association of European Computer Manufacturers (ECMA) . Media allocation may also be semi-flexible, where multiple devices may compete for the medium, while directional transmission may not be supported (i.e. restricted to low-speed omni-directional traffic) or it may be predefined (i.e. , a sectorized or directional CAP)

Channel time allocations (CTA) can provide the best Quality of Service (QoS) for connections in the IEEE 802.15.3c standard system, but, potentially, CTAs can also cause coexistence problems, due to hidden nodes already the presence of other networks, such as the IEEE 802.11ad network. This may be because, once a DEV has a CTA, then the DEV can perform the transmission without using a listen-before-talk mechanism. Therefore, in an environment where multiple physical layer (PHY) modalities coexist, the self-corrective contentious access mechanism can provide enhanced channel utilization. However, due to the directional nature of the millimeter wave transmission with support in the IEEE 802.15.3c standard, it is necessary to introduce new rules to support directional communication in the CAP.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to a procedure to allow peer-to-peer adhoc directional communication within the network 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, without any involvement of a network coordinator (such as PNC 1E or any access point) for the allocation of the access means. Peer-to-peer communication can also support antenna pattern training and beam formation (i.e. proactive beam formation).

Procedures for accessing the medium in the contentious access period

A basic mechanism of access to the medium during a CAP can be based on a multiple access approach with carrier detection, with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA). In order to minimize collisions, a transmitting DEV may be required to first detect that the medium is at rest for a random period. MAC can use

Free channel evaluation (CCA) capabilities of a PHY layer to detect if the channel is busy or idle.

If there is not enough time left in the CAP for the entire frame exchange sequence, then the transmitting DEV cannot begin frame transmission. The DEEE of the IEEE 802.15.3c standard may be authorized to transmit one frame at a time, with one setback applied to each frame that is attempted to be sent during the CAP, except for an immediate acknowledgment (Imm-ACK) frame. The IEEE 802.11 standard DEV may be authorized to transmit a

or more frames during a transmission opportunity period, the setback being applied to each attempt to obtain possession of the medium.

FIG. 9 illustrates operations 900 for ad-hoc directional transmission in a CAP, with optional antenna pattern training (i.e. beam formation), according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary scenario for ad-hoc directional transmission in the CAP, without any antenna pattern training.

In 905, the DEV-1 can monitor, in a medium in the CAP, such as the CAP 1000 illustrated in FIG. 10, the availability of the medium for the transmission of data by the DEV-1. In addition, in 910, the DEV-2 can monitor, in the middle in the CAP, the availability of the medium for data transmission by the DEV-2. In 910, after determining that the medium is available for data transmission, the DEV-1 can obtain the medium by transmitting an empty common mode signaling frame (CMS) 1002 in the CAP. In 920, the DEV-2 can receive the empty CMS frame transmitted by the DEV-1, which indicates access to the medium for data communication by the DEV-1 in the CAP. The empty CMS frame 1002 may contain only a long preamble and one or more headers, and may be transmitted omni-directionally, or quasi-omni-directionally.

In 925 and 930, the DEV-1 and DEV-2 can optionally perform antenna pattern training (i.e. beam formation) with each other, in order to determine preferred patterns of transmitting and receiving antennas (it is ie, sector or beam patterns) of the DEV-1 and DEV-2. Following the empty CMS frame and optional antenna pattern training (i.e. beam formation), the DEV-1 can be authorized (after a minimum frame spacing (MIFS) 1004) to send, in 935, the data frame 1006 in any modulation coding scheme (MCS) that has support in the PHY mode of the CAP, using a known preferred pattern of transmitting antennas. An IEEE 802.11ad DEV can be authorized to send one or more data frames in any MCS with support in the PHY mode of the CAP, with a remaining duration of a transmission opportunity period. In 940, the DEV-2 can receive frame 1006 of data, transmitted in the CAP from the DEV-1. After a brief space between frames (SIFS) 1008, the DEV-1 can receive an acknowledgment frame 1010, transmitted from the DEV-2, which confirms the successful reception of the data frame 1006 in the DEV-2.

It can be assumed that the preferred transmitting pattern of the DEV-1 is known, as a result of previously formed beam formation. Therefore, the DEV-1 can use the preferred transmitter pattern (i.e., sector or beam) towards the DEV-2 to transmit the data frame 1006, at 935.

In order to support better efficiency in the CAP specified by the IEEE 802.15.3c standard and, since the rollback is being applied to each frame that is attempted to be sent during the CAP, it may be desirable to support the standard grouping of data frames within of CAP.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the DEV-1 may, optionally, train the DEV-2, using a beam formation protocol with at least one level of antenna pattern training. For certain aspects of the present disclosure, if the DEV-1 fails to obtain the preferred transmitter pattern, then the DEV-1 cannot begin the transmission and may apply the recoil before attempting to recover the medium.

For standards that support bidirectional traffic within the transmission opportunity period, and for standards that support the transmission of multiple data frames within the transmission opportunity period, the proposed procedure of access to the medium in the CAP can be expanded to include a single CMS frame and an optional DEV training sequence, per transmission opportunity period. The CMS frame can also be a cutting-edge CMS frame, which can be transmitted from the DEV when the means for transmitting data in the CAP is first obtained. The cutting-edge CMS plot can be used to train antenna patterns used for future communication.

FIG. 11 illustrates exemplary operations 1100 for training antenna patterns, which can be included as steps 925 and 930 in operations 900 for ad-hoc directional transmission illustrated in FIG. 9. FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary scenario for ad-hoc directional transmission in the CAP, with antenna pattern training (i.e. beam formation) between two communication devices. In 1110, the DEV-1 can perform beam formation with the DEV-2, sending training sequences 1206, using at least one pattern of transmitting antennas. Before sending the training sequences, the DEV-1 can set a beam tracking bit to '1' in a PHY layer header of the transmitted empty CMS frame 1202, in order to request the formation of beams with the other DEV (ie, the DEV-2 illustrated in FIG. 12).

In 1120, the DEV-2 can receive training sequences 1206 transmitted from the DEV-1, using a plurality of patterns of receiving antennas. The DEV-2 can determine at least one preferred pattern of the receiving antenna of the DEV-2 and at least one preferred pattern of the transmitting antenna of the DEV-1. Following a brief space 1208 between frames, the DEV-2 can send a CMS frame 1210 in order to access the medium in the CAP.

In 1130, following a minimum frame spacing (MIFS) 1212, the DEV-2 may send feedback 1214 to the DEV-1 about a first preferred pattern of transmitting antennas of the DEV-1, chosen from said at least one preferred pattern of transmitting antennas of the DEV-1. The feedback information 1214 can be transmitted using all available addresses of transmitting antennas of the DEV-2. Optionally, the DEV-2 may send feedback information 1218 to DEV-1 about a second preferred transmission pattern of the DEV-1. The DEV-1 can sweep its receiving antenna patterns during the reception of feedback information 1214 transmitted from the DEV-2.

In 1140, following a SIFS 1220, the DEV-1 may determine at least one preferred pattern of DEV-1 receiving antennas and at least one preferred pattern of DEV-2 transmitting antennas, and may send feedback 1222 to the DEV-2, about said at least one preferred pattern of transmitting antennas of the DEV-2. After an MIFS 1224, the DEV-1 can send a data frame 1226 using the first preferred pattern of transmitting antennas of the DEV-1 in any MCS that is supported by the CAP PHY layer mode. The transmitted data frame 1226 can be received on the DEV-2 using a preferred pattern of receiving antennas, chosen from said at least one preferred pattern of receiving antennas of the DEV-2. Following a SIFS 1226, the DEV-2 can send back to DEV-1 a 1230 acknowledgment frame, using a preferred pattern of transmitting antennas chosen from said at least one preferred pattern of transmitting antennas.

In a Symmetric Antenna System (SAS), there may be no need to send feedback information during antenna address training. Therefore, each DEV in the SAS can train its peers by sending only repetitions of training sequences in each antenna direction. In the above description of antenna pattern training, each DEV (i.e., the DEV-1 and the DEV-2) can send a training sequence following an empty CMS frame, and each DEV can then transmit frames of data in a transmitting antenna address, which may be previously determined to be a preferred receiving antenna address.

CMS frame format and channel detection

Each device in the IEEE 802.15.3c system may be required to send an empty CMS frame when trying to gain access to the medium to transmit data in a PHY layer mode other than that of the CMS. The empty CMS frame can be transmitted, either omni-directionally or quasi-omni-directionally. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the empty CMS frame 1300 may comprise a long preamble 1302, a PHY layer header 1304, a MAC header 1306, a header control sum (HCS) 1308 and parity bits 1310.

FIG. 14 illustrates a structure of the PHY layer header 1304 of the CMS frame 1300, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The PHY layer header 1304 may comprise: an encryption seed identifier (ID) field 1402, a cluster bit 1404, an unequal error protection bit (UEP) 140, a modulation coding scheme (MCS) field 1408, a frame length field 1410 , a field 1412 of the preamble type, a bit 1414 of beam tracking, a bit 1416 of low latency mode, a bit 1418 of pilot word length, a bit 1420 of periodic channel estimation sequence (PCES) and a reserved field 1422.

All fields of the PHY layer header 1304 of the empty CMS frame 1300 may be set, except the bit 1414 of beam tracking. The beam tracking bit 1414 can be set to '1' if the training sequences for beam tracking follow the current CMS frame 1300, and can be set to zero otherwise. The frame length field 1410 may be an unsigned integer indicating the number of octets of the MAC frame body, excluding a frame control sequence (FCS) field. The frame length field 1410 may be set to zero in the empty CMS frame 1300, or it may indicate the duration of one or more subsequent frames.

The grouping bit 1404 of the PHY layer header 1304 can be set to zero, and the UEP bit 1406 can also be set to zero. Field 1408 of MCS can be set to 0b00000. Field 1412 of the preamble type can be set to 0b00. Bit 1416 of low latency mode can be set to zero, bit 1418 of pilot word length can be set to zero and bit 1420 of PCES can be set to zero.

FIG. 15 illustrates a structure of the MAC header 1306 of the empty CMS frame 1300 illustrated in FIG. 13, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The MAC header 1306 may comprise: a frame control field 1502, a peak-network identification field 1504 (PNID), a Destination Identifier (DestID) field 1506, a Source Identifier (SrcID) field 1508 , a fragmentation control field 1510 and a flow index field 1512.

A DEV that listens to the medium can obtain peer information (ie, the Source Identifier, the Destination Identifier and the flow rate) of the MAC header previously transmitted from another DEV. Based on the MAC header information, the listening DEV may either decide to keep its receiver open for one or more optional training sequences, and / or a subsequent data frame, or to switch to a listening mode, since a transmitting DEV cannot be any of its peers and / or the listening DEV cannot be the transmission destination.

In order to allow better efficiency in the CAP, and since the rollback can be applied to each frame that is attempted to be sent during the CAP, certain aspects of the present disclosure support the use of standard unidirectional grouping data frames in the cap. Certain aspects of this disclosure support the removal of the restriction of an ACK policy to an Imm-ACK frame and a Non-ACK frame (i.e., negative acknowledgment of receipt), and also support an ACK frame In block.

Peak-network networks of the IEEE 802.15.3 standard can use the multiple access scheme with carrier detection, collision avoidance (CSMA / CA), during CAP, and time division multiple access (TDMA) during a channel time allocation period (CTAP). The CAP can provide an effective coexistence procedure with other networks, including IEEE 802.11 networks, since the CSMA / CA algorithm used in the CAP can be similar to the CSMA / CA algorithm used in IEEE 802.11 networks, that is, A transmitter can use a listen-before-talk mechanism.

A free channel evaluation mechanism (CCA) in the current IEEE 802.15.3 CAP system may not be robust enough to support directional transmission, which can lead to considerable power wastage and poor coexistence. Certain aspects of the present disclosure support a modified CCA mechanism that may allow directional transmission in the CAP.

The PHY layer of the IEEE 802.15.3 system may require energy detection as part of the CCA process. A sufficiently strong signal can result in a DEV signaling that may indicate that the medium is busy. This can improve coexistence performance. The omni-directional (or quasi-omnidirectional) empty CMS frame can be used during the first part of the CEC (that is, during long preamble listening).

A beginning of a valid long preamble sequence, at a reception level equal to or greater than a defined minimum sensitivity, may indicate that the medium is occupied, with a probability greater than 90%, within 5! S. The CCA function of the receiver can inform, in all circumstances, that the medium is occupied with any signal that may be 20 dB above the minimum sensitivity defined for the CMS frame.

If a DEV wishing to initiate a transfer detects the long preamble during its listening-before-speaking period (that is, during a backspace between frames), the DEV may refrain from transmitting and may suspend its reverse counter, according to a recoil algorithm. This DEV can also remain in a receiving mode during the CMS frame, in order to obtain peer information from the MAC header. Based on the peer information obtained, the DEV may decide to keep its receiver open during one or more optional training sequences, and / or the next data frame, or to switch to the listening mode if a transmitting device is none of the pairs of the DEV and / or the DEV is not the destination of the transmission.

In order to obtain the duration of the frame, the listening DEV may also decide to decode the optional training sequences and the PHY layer header of the next data frame, even if the listening DEV cannot be the destination of the broadcast. The listening DEV can then operate in a sleeping mode during the data frame, including an ACK frame, in order to save on energy consumption.

There is no mechanism in the current IEEE 802.15.3c standard, such as a Network Allocation Vector (NAV), to indicate the duration of a transmission in the CAP, that is, to inform the DEV to listen for a duration of half busy This can lead to considerable waste of energy and poor coexistence. Certain aspects of this disclosure support the addition of an indication of duration to the transmission of the CAP. In one aspect, the fragmentation control field 1510 of the MAC header 1306 of the empty CMS frame 1300, illustrated in FIG. 15, can be readjudged to indicate duration information.

FIG. 16 illustrates a structure of the fragmentation control field 1510 of the MAC header 1306, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The fragmentation control field 1510 may comprise a duration field 1602, a duration indication bit 1604 and a reserved field 1606. The Duration Indication (DI) bit 1604 may be set to '1' to indicate that the bits 0 to 12 (that is, duration field 1602) may contain duration information. The duration field 1602 may contain the time, in microseconds, in which the medium is occupied. A maximum allocated duration can be 8 ms, which can support a 256 KB grouped data frame, while maintaining a frame error rate (FER) of 8% in an MCS with maximum support.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure support a requirement that a DEV that obtains the means to transmit a data frame in PHY mode, other than CMS, can transmit an omni CMS command frame

directional (or quasi omni-directional) before the data frame. This specific command frame may include a new information element (IE) of duration in a frame payload.

FIG. 17 illustrates a structure of the new IE field 1700 of duration of the CMS command frame, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The IE field 1700 of duration may comprise an element identifier field 1702, a field 1704 of length and a field 1706 of duration. The 1706 duration field may contain a time, in microseconds, in which the medium is occupied. A maximum allocated duration can be 8 ms, which can support a 256 KB grouped data frame, while maintaining a frame error rate (FER) of 8% at a maximum MCS.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of durations 1800 and 1800 ', which indicate how long the medium can be occupied for an ad-hoc directional transmission without any training, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. For example, duration 1800 may comprise a cumulative duration of an empty CMS frame 1802, an MIFS 1804, a data frame 1806, an SIFS 1808 and an ACK frame 1810. Duration 1800 may be indicated in frame 1802 of empty CMS, while duration 1800 'may be indicated in frame 1802' of empty CMS.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of durations 1900a and 1900b indicating how long the medium can be occupied for an ad-hoc directional transmission with training, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. Duration 1900a may be indicated within an empty CMS frame 1902, while duration 1900b may be indicated within an empty CMS frame 1910. As illustrated in FIG. 19, the period 1900a of duration may comprise a cumulative duration of the empty CMS frame 1902, an MIFS 1904, training sequences 1906, an SIFS 1908, the empty CMS frame 1910, an MIFS 1912, a first feedback 1914 information , a 1916 MIFS a second 1918 feedback information, a 1920 SIFS, a 1922 feedback information, a 1924 SIFS, a 1926 data frame, a 1928 SIFS and a 1930 ACK frame. As illustrated in FIG. 19, the period 1900b of duration may comprise a cumulative duration of the empty CMS frame 1910, the MIFS 1912, the first feedback information 1914, the MIFS 1916, the second feedback information 1918, the SIFS 1920, the 1922 information feedback, the SIFS 1924, the 1926 data frame, the SIFS 1928 and the 1930 ACK frame.

Transmission opportunity and slotted access

As described above, the currently proposed access procedures can be applied to any contentious access protocol, including IEEE 802.11 and enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA). This is because the suggested mechanism can define a procedure for the listening of a device to a medium according to any rules of priority of access to the medium and timing, in order to obtain and maintain a transmission direction from the headers of a CMS frame avant-garde, according to the new rules of formation of ad-hoc beams (that is, proactive).

This mechanism can also be applied for the directional transfer of data during a contention free period (CFP). In this case, a point coordinator (PC) can establish the CFP using a beacon frame. For the PHY millimeter wave mode, this beacon frame can be transferred using a CMS frame format, and can comply with the rules described above for the formation of ad-hoc (i.e. proactive) beams.

Any transfer of data within the CFP can also be carried out according to the rules previously described for obtaining and maintaining the transmission address, from a leading CMS frame header and an optional training sequence on a first transmission from each DEV .

Quasi-omni transmission and reception

A DEV, which may be unable to transmit an omni-directional CMS frame, and whose preferred transmission pattern is unknown, may send the CMS frame at one of its supported transmission addresses, each time the DEV gains control. About the middle.

If the DEV (that is, the DEV-1) is capable of performing beam formation with another DEV (that is, a DEV-2), the DEV-1 can set a beam tracking field to '1' in the PHY layer header of the CMS frame. The DEV-1 can then train the DEV-2 using the beam forming protocol, with one or two levels. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the DEV-1 can use circular batches of addresses of transmitting antennas with support, each time the DEV-1 obtains control over the medium, while its preferred transmission pattern may be unknown.

A DEV, which may be unable to transmit an omni-directional CMS frame, and whose preferred transmission pattern is known, may use its preferred transmission pattern (i.e., a sector or beam) each time the DEV gains control over the middle.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example of quasi-omni preamble reception, according to certain aspects of this

revelation. A 2000 CMS frame can be a cutting-edge CMS frame, which can be transmitted from the DEV when the means for transmitting data in a CAP is first obtained. As illustrated in FIG. 20, a listening device (i.e., the DEV-1), which may not be omni-trained, can go through receiving addresses every defined period of time (i.e., each period of CCA detection time), up to that the listening device detects the presence of the preamble. The CCA detection time period can be 2! S for a single carrier PHY / high speed interface (SC / HIS) layer and 9! S for an audio-video (AV) PHY layer.

The scanning can be performed on all the directions of reception antennas of the DEV-1, or on a set of addresses of reception antennas suitable for reception from their current peers. By detecting a long preamble 2002 of the CMS frame 2000, the DEV-1 can find an operational antenna address for a specific pair. The DEV-1 can use this operational antenna address until the 2004 header of the PHY layer is detected. The DEV-1 can detect the 2004 header of the PHY layer, and can then proceed according to the previously defined rules.

Access to the medium in a cap using long preamble

Certain aspects of this disclosure support the use of a long preamble to access the medium in a contentious access period (CAP). FIG. 21 illustrates a frame structure 2100 with a long preamble 2102, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The DEV that attempts to access the medium in the CAP can send the long preamble 2102 followed by the 8 bit Duration 2104 field. Long preamble 2102 can be sent according to a single carrier (SC) transmission scheme, using a base speed, and can be protected with a Hamming code 12'8. If the medium is granted, then the DEV can be authorized to send during the normal CAP, using its best address, a data packet 2108, together with a header 2106, in any modulation coding scheme (MCS) with support on the part of the PHY modality of CAP.

In certain aspects of the present disclosure, it may be preferable to use a HSI preamble sequence MCS0 (Scheme 0 of High Speed Interface Modulation Coding) / AV LRP (Low Speed Audio / Video PHY) for normal CAP transmission , which provides support, respectively, only to HSI PHY / AV PHY. Therefore, the long preamble 2102 may comprise the preamble sequence CMS / HIS MSC0 / AV LRP. A start of the valid preamble sequence CMS / HIS MSC0 / AV LRP, at a reception level equal to or greater than a minimum sensitivity defined for the CMS, may indicate that the medium is occupied with a certain probability, for example, with probability greater than 90%, within approximately 5! s. The receiver's free channel evaluation (CCA) function can inform, in certain circumstances, that the medium is occupied with any signal of approximately 20 dB above the minimum sensitivity for the CMS / HIS long preamble sequence MCS0 / AV LRP

If a DEV (e.g., the DEV-1) that you wish to initiate a transfer detects the CMS / HIS MCS0 / AV LRP preamble sequence during its listening-before-speaking period (that is, during its space of backspace between frames), the DEV-1 can refrain from transmitting and can suspend its backspace counter, according to the backward algorithm. The DEV-1 can also remain in the reception mode in order to obtain information about the duration of the 2100 frame. After obtaining the duration information, the DEV-1 can go to the sleeping mode for the duration period equal to the transmission of the frame (including the acknowledgment of receipt), in order to save on energy consumption.

The various procedure operations described above can be performed by any suitable means, capable of performing the corresponding functions. The media may include one or more different hardware and / or software components, and / or one or more modules, including, but not limited to, a circuit, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a processor. In general, where there are operations illustrated in the Figures, those operations may have the corresponding counterpart-half-plus-function components, with similar numbering. For example, blocks 602 to 620, 905 to 940 and 1110 to 1140, illustrated in FIGS. 6, 9 and 11 correspond to circuit blocks 602A to 620A, 905A to 940A and 1110A to 1140A, illustrated in FIGS. 6A, 9A and 11A.

As used herein, the term "determine" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determine" may include calculating, computing, processing, obtaining, investigating, consulting (eg, consulting in a table, a database or other data structure), finding out and the like. In addition, "determining" may include receiving (eg, receiving information), accessing (eg, accessing data in a memory) and the like. In addition, "determine" may include, solve, select, choose, establish and the like.

As used herein, a phrase that refers to "at least one of" a list of elements refers to any combination of those elements, including individual members. As an example, "at least one of: a, boc" is intended to cover: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc and abc.

The various procedural operations described above may be performed by any means capable of performing the operations, such as one or more hardware and / or software components, circuits and / or one or more modules. In general, any operation illustrated in the Figures can be performed by the corresponding functional means capable of performing the operations.

The various illustrative logic blocks, modules and circuits described in relation to the present disclosure can be implemented or realized with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a signal of a formation of field programmable gates (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate logic or transistor, discrete hardware components or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor but, alternatively, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. A processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g. eg, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such combination.

The steps of a procedure or algorithm described in relation to the present disclosure can be performed directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor or in a combination of the two. A software module can reside in any form of storage medium that is known in the art. Some examples of storage media that can be used include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a disk Removable, a CD-ROM, etc. A software module may comprise a single instruction, or many instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, between different programs, and between multiple storage media. A storage medium may be coupled with a processor so that the processor can read information from, and write information on, the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integrated in the processor.

The procedures disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions to achieve the described procedure. The steps and / or procedural actions can be exchanged with each other without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of stages or actions is specified, the order and / or use of the specific stages and / or actions can be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

The described functions can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions can be stored as one or more instructions in a computer-readable medium. A storage medium can be any available media that a computer can access. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other means that may be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures, which can be accessed by a computer. Disc, as used herein, includes the compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), flexible disc and Blu-ray® disc, where discs regularly play the data magnetically, while other discs reproduce the data optically with lasers.

Therefore, certain aspects may comprise a computer program product to perform the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may comprise a computer-readable medium that has instructions stored (and / or encoded) therein, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. memory. For certain aspects, the computer program product may include packaging material.

The software or instructions can also be transmitted by a transmission medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from an Internet site, a server or other remote source, using a coaxial cable, a fiber optic cable, a cross pair, a digital subscriber line (DSL) or wireless technologies such as infrared , radio and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, crossover pair, DSL or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio and microwave are included in the definition of transmission medium.

In addition, it should be appreciated that the modules and / or other suitable means for performing the procedures and techniques described herein can be downloaded and / or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and / or base station, as appropriate. For example, such a device may be coupled with a server to facilitate the transfer of means to perform the procedures described herein. Alternatively, various methods described herein may be provided by storage means (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage medium such as a compact disk (CD) or floppy disk, etc.), so that A user terminal and / or a base station can obtain the various procedures by attaching or providing the storage medium to the device. In addition, any other suitable technique can be used to provide the procedures and techniques described herein to a device.

It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and the components illustrated above. Various modifications, changes and variations can be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the procedures and apparatus described above, without departing from the scope of the claims.

The techniques provided herein can be used in a wide variety of applications. For certain aspects, the techniques presented herein may be incorporated into an access point, an access terminal or other type of wireless device with processing logic and elements to perform the techniques provided herein.

24 members in 11 offices

This recordMember, by publication datePriority claim1 more office is in the list below

Priority claims4

Priority claims
Document	Office	Kind	Date
16953409	United States of America	P	2009-04-15
17741109	United States of America	P	2009-05-12
55546909	United States of America	A	2009-09-08
2010031305	United States of America	W	2010-04-15

Members24

Family members, oldest first
Document	Office	Kind
US2010265895A1	United States of America	A1	2010-10-21
US2010265922A1	United States of America	A1	2010-10-21
WO2010121070A1	World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)	A1	2010-10-21
WO2010121073A1	World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)	A1	2010-10-21
TW201129201A	Taiwan Province of China	A	2011-08-16
TW201132208A	Taiwan Province of China	A	2011-09-16
KR20110138284A	Republic of Korea	A	2011-12-26
EP2420099A1	European Patent Office (EPO)	A1	2012-02-22
EP2420100A1	European Patent Office (EPO)	A1	2012-02-22
CN102396282A	China	A	2012-03-28
CN102396283A	China	A	2012-03-28
KR20120088544A	Republic of Korea	A	2012-08-08
JP2012524456A	Japan	A	2012-10-11
JP2012524457A	Japan	A	2012-10-11
KR101271021B1	Republic of Korea	B1	2013-06-05
EP2420099B1	European Patent Office (EPO)	B1	2013-10-09
DK2420099T3	Denmark	T3	2013-12-09
PT2420099E	Portugal	E	2013-12-11
ES2435807T3This record	Spain	T3	2013-12-23
PL2420099T3	Poland	T3	2014-02-28
US8780869B2	United States of America	B2	2014-07-15
JP5583754B2	Japan	B2	2014-09-03
US8971256B2	United States of America	B2	2015-03-03
CN102396283B	China	B	2015-05-06

Ad-hoc directional communication in contention access period

Abstract

Term

Priority claims4

Members24

Numbers

Titles2

Classification