US 10,098,023 B2Granted

Redundant links for reliable communication

AssigneeEVA Automation, Inc.

InventorGaylord Yu

Life of this patent

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Abstract

In order to maintain performance during wireless communication, a transmitting electronic device may concurrently and independently communicate redundant information to a receiving electronic device. In particular, information associated with a data stream may be communicated to the receiving electronic device using one or more channels by two radios using one or more wireless local area network communication protocols. The packets transmitted by the radios may preferentially include the same information. Moreover, the transmitting electronic device may attempt to maintain the redundant communication if a performance metric associated with the one or more channels degrades. For example, the transmitting electronic device may transfer communication to a different channel or may compress the information in the packets in the one or more channels if the throughput drops below a threshold value. Furthermore, the concurrent communication may allow the transmitting electronic device determine link quality without disrupting the communication of the information.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A transmitting electronic device, comprising:

an input port configured to receive information associated with a data stream;
a first interface circuit configured to communicatively couple to a first antenna and to communicate first packets between the transmitting electronic device and a receiving electronic device via a first channel using a wireless-local-area-network (WLAN) communication protocol, wherein the first packets include the information associated with the data stream;
a second interface circuit configured to communicatively couple to a second antenna and to communicate second packets between transmitting electronic device and the receiving electronic device via a second channel using the WLAN communication protocol, wherein the second packets include the information associated with the data stream and the second channel is different than the first channel;
wherein, in a first operating mode, the second packets are communicated concurrently with the first packets;
wherein, in a second operating mode, the transmitting electronic device is configured to perform quality-of-service (QoS) characterization of one of the first channel and the second channel without tearing down an associated connection between the transmitting electronic device and the receiving electronic device by coordinating communication between the transmitting electronic device and the receiving electronic device when the QoS characterization is performed and while the information is communicated using the other of the first channel and the second channel;
and
wherein the QoS characterization includes determining, without disrupting the communication of the information, one of:
for a given channel, a distance to the receiving electronic device and an associated phase distortion;
or channel calibration associated with one of the first channel and the second channel.

6 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for use in conjunction with a transmitting electronic device, the computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions that, when executed by the transmitting electronic device, cause the transmitting electronic device to perform one or more operations comprising:

receiving information associated with a data stream via an input port in the transmitting electronic device;
in a first operating mode:
communicating, to a first interface circuit in the transmitting electronic device, first packets for a receiving electronic device and associated with a first channel using a wireless-local-area-network (WLAN) communication protocol, wherein the first packets include the information associated with the data stream;
and
communicating, to the second interface circuit in the transmitting electronic device, second packets for the receiving electronic device associated with a second channel using the WLAN communication protocol, wherein the second packets include the information associated with the data stream and the second channel is different than the first channel;
wherein, in the first operating mode, the second packets are communicated concurrently with the first packets;
and
in a second operating mode:
performing quality-of-service (QoS) characterization of one of the first channel and the second channel without tearing down an associated connection between the transmitting electronic device and the receiving electronic device by coordinating communication between the transmitting electronic device and the receiving electronic device when the QoS characterization is performed and while the information is communicated using the other of the first channel and the second channel,
wherein the QoS characterization includes determining, without disrupting the communication of the information, one of:
for a given channel, a distance to the receiving electronic device and an associated phase distortion;
or channel calibration associated with one of the first channel and the second channel.

9 more elements

A method for communicating information associated with a data stream from a transmitting electronic device to a receiving electronic device, wherein the method comprises:

by the transmitting electronic device:
receiving information associated with the data stream via an input port in the transmitting electronic device;
in a first operating mode:
communicating, to a first interface circuit in the transmitting electronic device, first packets for the receiving electronic device and associated with a first channel using a wireless-local-area-network (WLAN) communication protocol, wherein the first packets include the information associated with the data stream;
and
communicating, to the second interface circuit in the transmitting electronic device, second packets for the receiving electronic device associated with a second channel using the WLAN communication protocol, wherein the second packets include the information associated with the data stream and the second channel is different than the first channel;
wherein, in the first operating mode, the second packets are communicated concurrently with the first packets;
and
in a second operating mode:
performing quality-of-service (QoS) characterization of one of the first channel and the second channel without tearing down an associated connection between the transmitting electronic device and the receiving electronic device by coordinating communication between the transmitting electronic device and the receiving electronic device when the QoS characterization is performed and while the information is communicated using the other of the first channel and the second channel,
wherein the QoS characterization includes determining, without disrupting the communication of the information, one of:
for a given channel, a distance to the receiving electronic device and an associated phase distortion;
or channel calibration associated with one of the first channel and the second channel.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/663,824Filed 31 Jul 2017 · continuation
Priority: 24 Dec 2014
Published: US 2017/0332262 A116 Nov 2017
Granted: 9 Oct 2018
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

H04W 24/04
Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements: arrangements for maintaining operational condition
H04W 76/15
Connection setup: setup of multiple wireless link connections
H04W 76/18
Connection setup: management of setup rejection or failure
H04W 36/0069
Transmission or use of information for re-establishing the radio link: in case of dual connectivity, e.g. decoupled uplink/downlink

Family

Application14/544,343Parent of this continuation · filed 24 Dec 2014
US 2017/0332262 A1Pre-grant publication · published 16 Nov 2017
US 9,763,120 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2016/0192214 A1Published application
US 10,098,023 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.