Dynamic bandwidth control in interference situations
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorMinyoung Park
Life of this patent
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Abstract
When a wireless communications device intends to communicate with another device over a wide channel consisting of multiple narrow channels, but detects interference on one or more of those narrow channels, it may restrict subsequent communications with that other device to those narrow channels that don't suffer from the interference. In one embodiment the device may simply refuse to monitor the interfering channel(s) for signals for a particular period of time. In another embodiment the device may use a CTS to signal the other device not to use the interfering narrow channel(s). That may result in using a wide channel with a reduced bandwidth for communications.
Claims52
A method, comprising:
- monitoring, by a device comprising one or more processors, for signals on a plurality of narrow channels of a first wide channel;
- detecting a potentially interfering signal on a particular one of the narrow channels of the first wide channel;
- transmitting a clear-to-send (CTS) to a network controller, wherein the CTS indicates a second wide channel to use for a subsequent communication, and wherein a plurality of narrow channels of the second wide channel are a subset of the plurality of narrow channels of the first wide channel and excludes the particular one of the narrow channels;
- and
- communicating, by the device, with the network controller via the second wide channel.
An apparatus configured to:
- monitor for signals on a plurality of narrow channels of a first wide channel;
- detect a potentially interfering signal on a particular one of the plurality of narrow channels of the first wide channel;
- transmit a clear-to-send (CTS) to a network controller, wherein the CTS indicates a second wide channel to use for a subsequent communication, and wherein a plurality of narrow channels of the second wide channel are a subset of the plurality of narrow channels of the first wide channel and excludes the particular one of the narrow channels;
- and
- communicate with the network controller via the second wide channel.
A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:
- monitoring for signals on all narrow channels of a first wide channel;
- detecting a potentially interfering signal on a particular one of the narrow channels;
- transmitting a clear-to-send (CTS) to a network controller, wherein the CTS indicates a second wide channel to use for a subsequent communication, and wherein a plurality of narrow channels of the second wide channel are a subset of the plurality of narrow channels of the first wide channel and excludes the particular one of the narrow channels;
- and
- communicating, by the device, with the network controller via the second wide channel.
A method of communicating in a wireless communications network, comprising:
- identifying that one or more of multiple channels of a first wide band are idle;
- receiving a request-to-send (RTS) indicating multiple channels of the first wide band that are available for communication;
- and
- transmitting a clear-to-send (CTS) over at least some of the multiple channels that are identified as idle prior to receiving the RTS, while not transmitting the CTS over ones of the multiple channels that were not indicated as idle before the RTS.
An apparatus configured to:
- identify that one or more of multiple channels of a first wide band are idle;
- receive a request-to-send (RTS) indicating multiple channels of the first wide band that are available for communication;
- and
- transmit a clear-to-send (CTS) over at least some of the multiple channels that are identified as idle prior to receiving the RTS, while not transmitting the CTS over ones of the multiple channels that were not indicated as idle before the RTS.
A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:
- identifying that one or more of multiple channels of a first wide band are idle;
- receiving a request-to-send (RTS) indicating multiple channels of the first wide band that are available for communication;
- and
- transmitting a clear-to-send (CTS) over at least some of the multiple channels that are identified as idle prior to receiving the RTS, while not transmitting the CTS over ones of the multiple channels that were not indicated as idle before the RTS.
A device configured to:
- monitor multiple narrow channels of a wide channel to determine if there are potentially interfering signals on any of the narrow channels, the wide channel having a bandwidth of at least 80 MHz;
- detect a potentially interfering signal on a particular narrow channel of the multiple narrow channels;
- transmit to a second device on a reduced wide channel that includes at least some of the narrow channels of the multiple narrow channels and excludes said particular narrow channel.
A method to communicate in a wireless network comprising:
- monitoring each of multiple 20 MHz narrow channels of a wide channel to determine if there are potentially interfering signals on any of the narrow channels, the wide channel having a bandwidth of at least 80 MHz;
- detecting a potentially interfering signal on a particular narrow channel of the multiple narrow channels;
- and
- transmitting to another device on a reduced wide channel that includes at least some of the narrow channels of the multiple narrow channels and excludes said particular narrow channel.
A device configured to:
- send a request-to-send (RTS) to a second device, the RTS indicating a wide channel including a first plurality of narrow channels, the wide channel having a bandwidth of at least 80 MHz;
- receive a clear-to-send (CTS) from the second device in response to the RTS, the CTS indicating a reduced wide channel including a second plurality of the narrow channels, wherein the second plurality of narrow channels is a subset of the first plurality narrow channels;
- communicate with the other device only on the reduced wide channel.
At least one computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:
- monitoring multiple narrow channels of a wide channel to determine if there are potentially interfering signals on any of the narrow channels, the wide channel having a bandwidth of at least 80 MHz;
- detecting a potentially interfering signal on a particular narrow channel of the multiple narrow channels;
- and
- transmitting to another device on a reduced wide channel that includes at least some of the narrow channels of the multiple narrow channels and excludes said particular narrow channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.